Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Hardcover. 400 pages.
Before he was the White Wolf or the Butcher of Blaviken, Geralt of Rivia was simply a fresh graduate of Kaer Morhen, stepping into a world that neither understands nor welcomes his kind.
And when an act of naïve heroism goes gravely wrong, Geralt is only saved from the noose by Preston Holt, a grizzled witcher with a buried past and an agenda of his own.
Under Holt’s guiding hand, Geralt begins to learn what it truly means to walk the Path – to protect a world that fears him, and to survive in it on his own terms. But as the line between right and wrong begins to blur, Geralt must decide to become the monster everyone expects, or something else entirely.
This is the story of how legends are made – and what they cost."
I've always found The Witcher books to be a bit hit or miss for me, and I still feel like I'm missing something about them. I really love the short story collections, such as The Last Wish, but the sequential novels are ones I always struggled more with. Crossroads of Ravens felt like a bit of a mix of both, which I think worked well and ended up being what allowed me to read through and enjoy this book.
Crossroads of Ravens is an exciting new installment into the series that I think gives some intriguing backstory to Geralt's experiences. Crossroads of Ravens is technically a prequel to the rest of the series, so you don't need to be familiar with the earlier books to read it. However, I do feel like having some knowledge of the Witcher world and its characters would help, as I found it helped me feel a bit more settled and grounded in this world. But if you want to just jump right in, I think that works, too!
This book captures what seems to be the classic Witcher rhythm: Geralt traveling the lands, slaying monsters and doing his Witcher-ly duties, and encountering strange people and situations--often ones that he ends up getting into trouble with. The writing is deceptively light and fast-paced, and I'm always thrown off by how initially unserious it is. It's ridiculously easy to read through this book quickly, and I finished much sooner than I anticipated, which was a nice surprise to find I was that entertained. This also means that this book didn't feel like it had quite the drama or gravity that I necessarily expected, but it still acted as a really accessible prequel that adds another angle to Geralt's story.
That's not to say that this book doesn't touch on any more serious notes or themes, as it certainly slows down in certain moments and builds some more atmosphere and contemplative aspects. Sapkowski is good at ending chapters on notes that either poignant or a bit humorous, but often something that keeps you hooked and wanting to keep reading. The world itself is much grimmer than the tone of the book, so it's one those that I think catches readers off guard at times with various events that happen in the book. I think these moments helped to break up the otherwise lighter flow of the book and kept things feeling a bit more focused.
Something that always stands out to me is Sapkowski's usage of dialogue, as he often utilizes a very "matter of fact" style that I think works well with the story he tells. It's exceedingly sharp, and somehow the sparseness of detail and description around his dialogue does not at all affect how much emotion can be heard in the words, and somehow seems to even enhance the tones in which I would read what is being said. Geralt, of course, is the same old classic Geralt with his dry tone, though he is a bit less knowledgeable in this book, and I really appreciated seeing this earlier version of Geralt.
I think this is a great book for Witcher fans who are wanting just a bit more Geralt in their lives, or even those looking to check out the series. It's not a book that I feel demands all too much from the reader, although I will say that there are a lot of names and places thrown about that makes things feel a bit confusing at times, but as long as you stick with it, it all works out excellently.
